search engines
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Yahoo intros Search Direct, takes on Google Instant with insular effect
Remember Google Instant? Now, Yahoo's got something like that -- it's called Search Direct -- and like Instant, it consists of a search box that quickly and automatically suggests results as you type. Unlike Instant, however, it won't update the entire results page to reflect the outcome of your potential search, but rather just an enlarged search box like the one you see above, providing up to ten suggested queries and three suggested results. That makes it a little bit speedier (we were able to use it on our 3G phone connection quite easily) but also fairly limited in comparison. It's also a bit... ahem... self-serving, as any search that happens to include the same letters as one of Yahoo's own services will promote them above all others in the results -- in fact, only five letters of the alphabet presently bring up anything but a Yahoo website as the first result when typed in solo. I = iTunes J = Jennifer Lopez Q = QVC X = Xbox 360 Z = Zsa Zsa Gabor Some of the improved functionality is pretty useful, though, as that Xbox query will instantly bring up prices for the console, and you can type in "movies" or "weather" and your zip code to immediately plan your night out. ("Restaurants" and "food" don't work, though.) Anyhow, Search Direct is in beta. Why not give it a go?
Google Social Search update makes your friends more relevant, difficult to ignore
Google's been talking up its Social Search function for sometime, but up until now your friends' tweets probably haven't made it to the top of your search results -- unless of course you're besties with TMZ, and you've been searching the Miley Cyrus bong salvia rip again. Thankfully, it looks as if that could change with El Goog's latest update to the socially minded search function, which now mixes updates from your contacts' various online accounts, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, in with the standard search fare -- pulling them up from their previous position at the bottom of your results. Google's also included a photo and annotation to show the origins of relevant links, and given you the ability to manage how you connect your accounts -- either publicly through your profile or privately through your account. The new functions started rolling out yesterday, which means you could be seeing a whole lot more from those contacts you regretted friending in the first place. Isn't social media a wonderful / disastrous thing?
NYT uncovers the tawdry, seedy tale of the SEO games of J.C. Penney
The New York Times has run an incredibly detailed piece about a feat of Google search engine gaming which seems to have been done by or for JC Penney. We won't bore you with SEO basics -- we're pretty sure you've got those down already -- but suffice to say that The Times noticed that the retailer was at the top of Google's search results for many more terms than seemed possible or natural, so they started to do some digging. What they found was that thousands of links had been placed on what were essentially spam sites all over the web, resulting in the retailer ruling the Google juice for terms such as "little black dress," and even super generic ones like "rugs" and "bedding." This is one of the dreaded kinds of 'black hat' optimization that Google frowns upon, because it's so obviously cheating, and it's punishable by a massive sinking of the offending site's ranking in results (which is, of course, not the desired effect). JC Penney unsurprisingly denies knowing anything about it, and no evidence exists to suggest it was directly involved, so on Wednesday, Google began 'corrective action' to bring Penney's results back to planet earth. One example -- before the action was taken, JC Penney held the number one spot for the search term 'living room furniture,' and after it stood at number 68 -- is enough to show the awesome power Google holds over the results it delivers, but the story also serves to show how truly broken search is, as well as Google's seeming nonchalance about the issue. Hit up the source link for the full story.
Google under fire for promoting own content ahead of competing websites
This isn't exactly a new allegation, but the idea's spreading fast: Google is tuning search results to favor itself, and perhaps that's not entirely fair. Though the European Union is already investigating Google for potential antitrust violations, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal cites several US businesses that aren't too happy themselves, claiming that Google Places, Product Search and the like took a big chomp out of their traffic. Google's defense, as usual, rests on its secret algorithms, which it claims aren't rigged in any way, adding that the prominent placement of location- and product-based search results are just a way to get users quicker answers to their queries. If you type in "day spa nyc," you're looking for some catered suggestions, right? And what of those who argue differently? Well, obviously they're in league with Microsoft.
Google's Zeitgeist report for 2010: America loves the Bieb, already forgot about BP
Google recently released its annual Zeitgeist report of hot search terms for the year, and if you ask us, what people aren't searching for is just as interesting as what they are searching for. The climate is going topsy-turvy, oil sources have peaked (or are currently peaking), Afghanistan is a boondoggle, and the season finale of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret was one of the least satisfying in the history of sitcoms -- but what tops America's primary concerns? That's right: Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Chatroulette, and Apple's iPad. It almost makes us long for 2009, when Michael Jackson and the swine flu were all the rage. Almost.
BP damage control extends to purchasing search terms like 'oil spill' on Google, Yahoo
If you're looking for the latest updates on the Gulf Oil Disaster, you're probably not wondering "how BP is helping," but that hasn't stopped the company from snatching up keywords on various sites. "We have bought search terms on search engines like Google to make it easier for people to find out more about our efforts in the Gulf," BP spokesman Toby Odone told ABC News. We regret to inform ol' Toby that if it cannot manage the oil spill, managing its PR is not going to placate anybody.
WWDC 2010: Bing coming to MobileSafari search
The rumor was partly true, Bing is indeed coming to the iOS search party; however, it will not be the default option as was speculated in January. During today's WWDC 2010 keynote address, Steve Jobs announced that Bing would be alongside Google and Yahoo as available search engine choices for MobileSafari. While it may seem insignificant, mobile search is a huge market that Google is currently dominating and it appears that Apple wants to put a little competition into the mix. While he wasn't gratuitous with his praise, Steve did say that he was impressed by Microsoft's implementation of their search engine in the browser. And no matter what Steve thinks, this additional option is a huge win for the Bing team at Microsoft. And hopefully a huge win for us, too -- competition in the search race will help out consumers a lot in the long run.
Google says Android should 'flourish' in China, effectively concedes a point
Whether for real or for show, Google tried to make the world believe it would use Android OS as a bargaining chip during the company's terse, slow negotiations with China. Now, the company has seemingly abandoned that option. During an educational webcast about the future of Google's mobile business, CFO Patrick Pichette told viewers that he expected the company's Android platform to do well in China despite all the recent threats and ultimatums in the country. "The Android platform is available to everybody," said Pichette, "and China is obviously another great market in which Android should flourish." Good to hear that Google and China are finally in accordance, right? Thing is, with China circumventing Android's default search engine, Google's stance against Chinese censorship of search depended on taking Android handsets hostage. But if the OS is indeed available to everybody, that's not going to happen. The mobile market might one day be dominated by Android, but if Google doesn't step up, mobile search will go to competitors more willing to play wallball with the Great Firewall of China.
Dedicated WoW search engine now in beta
This probably isn't something Google or Bing should worry about, but there's a new search engine in town. Mrgl-Mrgl, a new search engine dedicated to the World of Warcraft, recently launched and is now in beta. The site, named after the NPC in a murloc suit in Borean Tundra, collates search results based on relevance to WoW. There are five search category tabs: Web, Image, Video, Forums, and Items. Users can type any keyword, not necessarily related to World of Warcraft (apparently subject to abuse, as shown in the most popular keywords), and the search engine delivers results scoured from popular WoW-related sites. A few searches on the site don't appear to yield better results than, say, Google, which pulls data from more sources including guild websites or player blogs. Mrgl-mrgl results appear to be limited to World of Warcraft news sites, forums, and WoW-tagged videos on YouTube. We're not quite sure how important it is to have a dedicated WoW search engine in the midst of database sites such as Wowhead, wikis such as WoWwiki, and blue forum trackers, but if it manages to draw from more sources in a more organized and relevant fashion, the idea just might work. Perhaps the next time you'll need to search for something related to the game, you can just 'Mrgl it'.
Pandora 2.3 Update
Positive Spin Media's media search tool, Pandora (formerly NetScrape) has been bumped up to version 2.3. The new version primarily fixes some issues that Pandora had with reading some pages with non-English languages or encoding. The update is free to registered users, and you can download the update today.If you haven't seen Pandora before, it's worth a look. Pandora uses a plug-in architecture to wander the big image search engines (i.e., Google and Flickr) or your hard drive, and supports finding and fetching any type of media -- not just images. Once you've found the media, Pandora provides easy slide show creation so you can show it off. I like the fact that you can start off multiple searches simultaneously and have them runThe Pandora demo is limited to 50 image viewings, and if you love it you can buy it for $29.95.
iPhone 101: Change your default search engine
We're not kidding when we say that Apple and Google have developed a close relationship. When you tap the iPhone Safari address bar, a screen opens offering both a keyboard and a search field. By default, this field is tied to Google. When empty it says Google in dim gray letters. When you start to type in text the Go button changes to Google. But there's a way around that. You can use Yahoo rather than Google as your search provider. From your Home screen, go to Settings > Safari. The first setting lets you choose whether to use Google or Yahoo as your search engine. When set to Yahoo, both that gray text and the search button change from Google to Yahoo, as well as your searches. I'm not entirely sure why people might prefer Yahoo to Google, still it's good to have a choice.
